Reconstructing Collective Identity for Peacebuilding: The Indigenous Guard in Northern Cauca – Colombia

Abstract

The indigenous Nasa are recognised in Colombia for using innovative strategies to deal with violent conflicts and to claim political rights. One of the most visible and permanent strategies is the Guardia Ind ıgena -GI (Indigenous Guard), a community watch to patrol and protect indigenous people. This study investigates how the Nasa frame the history of the GI, with what purposes and consequences. A language-based perspective was used to analyse how the Nasa frame the GI history and how this framing process affects their actions and practices. Our analysis shows that the Nasa refer mainly to four historical events when talking of GI history. These events function as identification points that contribute particular elements to the guards' collective identity in specific situations. This framing process has become an important power resource for constructing a non-violent collective identity and reconstructing their historical memory for peacebuilding.

Peace geographies and the spatial turn in peace and conflict studies: Integrating parallel conversations through spatial practices

“…In response, scholars increasingly recognize the value of ethnographic methods in peace and conflict research, (Millar, 2014, 2018a; 2018b). This has also brought greater attention to previously peripheralized peace research agendas including indigenous knowledge and peacebuilding (Brett, 2013; Chaves, et al., 2018, 2020; Macaspac, 2018), alternative peace and security initiatives such as peace zones/communities (Hancock, 2017; Hancock & Mitchell, 2007; Kaplan, 2017; Macaspac, 2018), and the differential politics of peace research between local and foreign scholars and between foreign scholars and local communities in the Global South (Bliesemann de Guevara et al., 2020; Macaspac, 2017).…”

Self-organization for everyday peacebuilding: The Guardia Indígena from Northern Cauca, Colombia

“…Their nonviolent forms of self-organization would probably not have been possible without the current legal system. In this way, their nonviolence is a form of adaptation to their current complex environment (see Chaves et al, 2018). The Guardia Indígena's mechanisms and strategies for managing violent situations in a nonviolent way have several implications for peacebuilding in Colombia.…”

“…By 2004, 21 municipalities had been attacked, 52 indigenous leaders had been killed, and around 153 indigenous people had disappeared (CNAI, 2007a). Paramilitary incursions generated a reorganization of indigenous communities (Chaves et al, 2018), and, in 2001, the Nasa formalized the Guardia Indígena to prevent displacement of their communities and protect people against armed groups.…”

“…Either planned or unplanned, a process of collective identity reconstruction takes place, reinforced by ideas of a shared past, mentioned in previous utterances. Clearly, Nasa collective identity is not comprised of these principles only; cultural practices and cosmology play an important role that makes Nasa communities unique (for more on Nasa collective identity, see Chaves et al, 2018; Yule, 2012).…”

Identity as a weapon for peacebuilding : Strategies and practices of the indigenous guard from Northern Cauca, Columbia

“…Their non-violent forms of self-organization would probably not have been possible without the current legal system. In this way, their non-violence is a form of adaptation to their current complex environment (see Chaves et al, 2018). GI mechanisms and strategies to manage violent situations in a non-violent way have several implications for peacebuilding in Colombia.…”